Urgent care centers specialize in on-demand healthcare for those “can’t-wait-but-not-an-emergency’”moments that disrupt daily life. They’re the ideal solution for non-emergency healthcare needs. You don’t need an appointment, and most urgent care centers stay open evenings and weekends to match busy family schedules. Visits can take under an hour from check-in to discharge, and costs remain closer to a regular doctor’s visit than an emergency room.
But did you know that urgent care centers offer a wide range of healthcare services beyond treating minor illnesses and injuries? They increasingly serve as neighborhood health hubs offering travel vaccines, rapid lab testing, allergy treatment, and more.
Let’s explore the full range of urgent care services to help you understand all your local care options.
What Can Urgent Care Treat?
Let’s start with the essentials. Urgent care centers can handle many non-emergency illnesses and injuries. Whether you’re suffering from strep, seasonal allergies, or a UTI, urgent care providers can diagnose and prescribe treatment. They also offer rapid testing for flu and COVID-19, and treatment for skin conditions like poison ivy rashes and shingles. In short, urgent care centers can treat most minor illnesses you or your child might experience.
Where injuries are concerned, urgent care centers can treat cuts that need stitches, sprains and broken bones, minor burns, and many other injuries you might experience. If it isn’t serious enough to warrant a visit to the ER, you’ll find an urgent care center offers convenient, fast, and inexpensive treatment.
ER vs Urgent Care? Find out which is right for you.
Urgent Care Services You May Not Know About
Urgent care centers offer many on-demand healthcare services beyond treating immediate medical needs. Here’s a comprehensive look at services you might not realize are available.
Vaccines and Immunizations
Most urgent care centers provide a full range of vaccinations for children and adults. This includes annual flu shots; tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis vaccines; MMR vaccines; HPV vaccines; and travel immunizations. Many locations offer evening and weekend hours, so it’s more convenient to keep your family’s immunizations up to date.
Allergy Treatment
Beyond treating acute allergic reactions, urgent care centers typically provide allergy testing, prescription medications, and other services to help with the management of seasonal allergies and food allergies.
STD Testing and Treatment
Urgent care centers offer confidential STD testing with quick results. Many can diagnose and treat or manage common sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and herpes, providing prescriptions when needed. Some locations also offer educational resources and preventative care.
Wellness Exams
Urgent care clinics are a convenient location for physical exams and health screenings. It’s easy and inexpensive to take care of routine check-ups at an urgent care — book a same-day appointment online or just walk into a conveniently located clinic.
Exams may include basic wellness checks, women’s health exams, and preventive care services. Urgent care clinics can also perform routine health screenings for conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Travel Health Services
Planning an international trip? Urgent care centers often provide travel health services, including required vaccinations for illnesses like hepatitis and typhoid, prescriptions for travel-related medications like antimalarials, and health advice specific to your destination. They can also provide medical documentation, such as vaccination certificates, needed for international travel.
Pediatric Care
Most urgent care locations are able to treat children of all ages. Services include treatment for common childhood illnesses, minor injuries, and routine checkups. Many clinics have experienced pediatric care providers and child-friendly examination rooms.
Diagnostic Testing Services
Urgent care centers offer various on-site diagnostic and rapid lab testing services:
- X-rays for examining injuries
- Blood tests for infections, diabetes, and other conditions
- Urinalysis for UTIs and other disorders
- Rapid strep tests
- Pregnancy testing
- Cholesterol and other health screenings
- EKGs for heart rhythm checks
Sports and School Physicals
Need a physical for sports, school, or camp? Urgent care centers routinely perform these examinations. They can complete the required forms and provide any necessary documentation.
The availability of specific urgent care services may vary by location, so it’s worth checking with your local urgent care center about particular services you need. Many centers list their services online or can answer questions by phone before your visit.
Why Choose an Urgent Care Center?
When you need medical care, you have several options: calling your primary care doctor, visiting a retail clinic, heading to the emergency room, or going to an urgent care center. Each serves a different purpose in the healthcare system.
Primary care is great for routine and preventive care but often requires you to make appointments in advance. Retail clinics handle basic health needs but can’t treat more complex issues. Emergency rooms are essential for life-threatening conditions but involve long waits and high costs for less serious problems.
Urgent care centers fill an important middle ground, offering more comprehensive care than retail clinics with greater convenience than emergency rooms. Here’s why they might be your best choice.
Convenient Care
Getting care at an urgent care center is simple and convenient. Many locations offer online booking systems that let you secure your spot in line from home and complete paperwork before arriving. Digital scheduling reduces wait times and helps you to avoid crowded waiting rooms. Even without an appointment, urgent care centers welcome walk-in patients, so they are ideal for working parents who need after-hours care or travelers requiring immediate attention.
Predictable Timelines
Time matters when you’re not feeling well. Urgent care visits typically involve wait times of just 15–30 minutes, compared to emergency rooms where waits can stretch well beyond two hours. Most urgent care visits, including examination and treatment, are completed within 45–90 minutes.
Fair and Transparent Pricing
Urgent care centers offer significant cost savings compared to emergency rooms, with visit fees typically 60–80% lower for comparable services. Self-pay patients can expect basic visit costs between $150-$300, depending on the nature of the visit, and pricing is usually clearly posted.
For those with insurance, urgent care co-pays often match primary care rates rather than expensive emergency room co-pays. Most centers accept a wide range of insurance plans.
Balanced Care Capabilities
Urgent care centers occupy a sweet spot in healthcare delivery. They offer more advanced services than retail clinics, including sutures, X-rays, and IV fluids, but maintain a more focused and efficient environment than emergency rooms. Many centers can share digital records with your primary care physician for continuity of care, and most offer telehealth follow-up options.
Family-Friendly Features
Urgent care centers understand the needs of families. You will often find pediatric exam rooms designed to keep children comfortable and distracted during treatment. Parents appreciate that multiple siblings can be treated during the same visit.
For added convenience, some centers have partnerships for same-day prescription delivery, and most stock common medications on-site, including antibiotics, inhalers, and EpiPens.
Find an Urgent Care Near You
Find an urgent care in your city for on-demand healthcare and convenient medical services.
